Author: Robbie Lastella
Week one of the NFL season hasn’t kicked off yet, however anticipation about when we will see the Giants first round pick Jaxson Dart has begun to ramp up.
Dart was officially announced as the second string quarterback on the team’s official depth chart, however in the Giants Press Conference prior to week one, head coach Brian Daboll was coy about the possibility of seeing the rookie quarterback earlier than expected.
“I think every situation, every year, is different, we will see how it goes,” Daboll said.
This isn’t the first time in Daboll’s career that he has multiple talented signal callers on his roster, as while he was the offensive coordinator at Alabama in 2017 he had an experienced Jalen Hurts and true freshman in Tua Tagovailoa in his quarterback room.
Although Hurts was the more tenured option, a la Russell Wilson, Tagovailoa’s talent and potential as the future of the Crimson Tide was too great to be ignored, a la Jaxson Dart, which led to Daboll finding a way to get both quarterbacks onto the field.
Alabama opened up the 2017 season against # 3 Florida State and although the Crimson Tide defeated the Seminoles 24-7, Tagovailoa did not see the field, but that would change in week 2, as Daboll trusted the rookie with a role in the next 6 games and that was the beginning of a championship winning recipe.
Over the final 11 games of the regular season, Tagovailoa appeared 8 times, having his best performance in week 4 against Vanderbilt where in a 59-0 blowout he came on in relief, completing 8 of 10 passes for 103 yards and 2 TDs.
He played mostly in a relief role during the regular season, however in the National Championship game when Alabama needed a spark trailing 13-0 at halftime, Nick Saban and Brian Daboll called upon Tagovailoa who earned more of their trust week by week.
The true freshman delivered, completing 14 of 24 passes for 166 yards, 3 TDs and just one interception, leading Alabama to a 26-23 win over Georgia.
“We played with Jalen, who was predominantly the starter, we got up some there in a lot of games and Tua was able to develop and come along, but again, every year is different,” Daboll said.
Although Daboll is adamant about every situation being different, this one has some similarities.
The Giants have a young talent in Dart waiting behind an experienced veteran in Russell Wilson and as history showed, preparing a young QB with reps in live games can prepare them to make an impact when called upon in a bigger situation.
There hasn’t been any plans for Jaxson Dart outside of being the backup as of yet, but looking at Daboll’s history it is possible we could see him sooner than later.
